Monessen School District seeing fewer fights after hiring full-time police officer, changing lunches

MONESSEN, Pa. — At the beginning of this school year, there were four fights in 13 days inside Monessen High School. Cell phones captured the huge fight that broke out in the cafeteria.

In the last five months, the district has made a ton of changes.

“We have not seen anything like we did at the beginning of the year. Have we had some problems? Yes. Have we had some physical encounters yes. But not as consistent. And the consistency of it happening as much as it was is a good thing,” Monessen School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Motte said.

“I feel safer now,” Bry’Aunna Cook said.

Cook is a freshman at Monessen. She remembers seeing this video of a fight in her school. Those videos of this fight circulated all over social media back in September. It started with a couple of students and quickly grew.

“It was very frustrating,” said Motte. “We couldn’t quite pinpoint why it was happening.”

Since then, they hired a full-time police officer and switched the lunches around to separate students by grade level. They also created Greyhounds on Patrol, which is made up of a group of parents and retired community members who walk the hallways.

“Parents and students said they felt unsafe,” said Motte. “The unsafe part is unsettling for us. Just like it is for parents. And we want to make sure they feel safe.”

The district is also working on implementing a new social, emotional learning curriculum in the elementary school and plans to ban cell phones during the school day.

“I don’t really like it because I usually text my dad,” Cook said.

“I’ll be honest one of the fights looked like a riot because a majority of the people around the fight were recording it,” said Motte. “A lot of staff members couldn’t get to the fight and that is what the Yondr bags are for so we can just focus on learning.”

By the beginning of March, students will have to lock their phones up in these Yondr pouches for the entire school day.

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